Flattener #10. The Steroids: Digital, Mobile, Personal, and Virtual

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  • The first steroid: Computing power. in 1971, the Intel 4004 microprocessor contained 2,3000 transistors. Intel's Tianium processor has 1.7 billion transistors in 2006.
  • The second steroid: Breakthroughs in instant messaging, peer-to-peer networks and file sharing.
  • The third steroid: Breakthroughs in making phone calls over the Internet (VOIP) -- Skype.
  • The fourth steroid: Videoconferencing -- people can collaborate, "communicate their thoughts, facial expressions, feelings, ire, enthusiasm, and raised eyebrows."
  • The fifth steroid: Advances in computer graphics. "Video games are particularly important in this regard, because in addition to their very realistic visual images and great sound, they are highly interactive and increasingly collaborative." (p.194).
  • The sixth steroid: Wireless technologies and devices. In the medical field it will be your authentication system and you can examine your medical records, and to make payments you will have to hold a mobile phone. You will not be able to lead a life without a mobile phone, and it will control things at home too. We believe that we need to expand the range of machines that can be controlled by mobile phone."

These steroids made it possible for all forms of collaboration – outsourcing, offshoring, open-sourcing, supply-chaining, and in-forming – to come together. Friedman writes: "As a result of these steroids, engines can now talk to computers, people can talk to people, computers can talk to computers, and people can talk to computers father, faster, more cheaply, and more easily that ever before. And as that has happened, more people from more places have started asking one another the same two questions:

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?


CAN WE WORK TOGETHER NOW?"


Current Event
Lawmakers ask Apple App Makers about PrivacySenators Question Employer Requests for Facebook Passwords
These steroids are all about connecting - we are more connected to people all over the world than ever before. However, the 2 articles above are about limiting those connections. The first questions whether or not app makers are accessing too much personal information, and the second questions the legality of employers requiring access to employees' personal information. As we keep connecting and sharing, collaborating and communicating, it is important to remember that your public image is important and what you put out there should be appropriate and well-protected. You don't know who will be reading and accessing your information.